# read-pkg [](https://travis-ci.org/sindresorhus/read-pkg) > Read a package.json file ## Why - [Gracefully handles filesystem issues](https://github.com/isaacs/node-graceful-fs) - [Throws more helpful JSON errors](https://github.com/sindresorhus/parse-json) - [Normalizes the data](https://github.com/npm/normalize-package-data#what-normalization-currently-entails) ## Install ``` $ npm install read-pkg ``` ## Usage ```js const readPkg = require('read-pkg'); (async () => { console.log(await readPkg()); //=> {name: 'read-pkg', …} console.log(await readPkg({cwd: 'some-other-directory'})); //=> {name: 'unicorn', …} })(); ``` ## API ### readPkg(options?) Returns a `Promise<object>` with the parsed JSON. ### readPkg.sync(options?) Returns the parsed JSON. #### options Type: `object` ##### cwd Type: `string`<br> Default: `process.cwd()` Current working directory. ##### normalize Type: `boolean`<br> Default: `true` [Normalize](https://github.com/npm/normalize-package-data#what-normalization-currently-entails) the package data. ## Related - [read-pkg-up](https://github.com/sindresorhus/read-pkg-up) - Read the closest package.json file - [write-pkg](https://github.com/sindresorhus/write-pkg) - Write a `package.json` file - [load-json-file](https://github.com/sindresorhus/load-json-file) - Read and parse a JSON file --- <div align="center"> <b> <a href="https://tidelift.com/subscription/pkg/npm-read-pkg?utm_source=npm-read-pkg&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=readme">Get professional support for this package with a Tidelift subscription</a> </b> <br> <sub> Tidelift helps make open source sustainable for maintainers while giving companies<br>assurances about security, maintenance, and licensing for their dependencies. </sub> </div>